THE recent death of Sir Jimmy Savile marked ten years to the day since the opening of Oswestry's world-renowned Centre for Spinal Injuries, the foundation stone of which was laid by the much loved TV legend.
An eccentric and popular TV personality, most famous for his show Jim'll Fix It and for being the first presenter of Top of The Pops, Jimmy Savile arrived in Oswestry in May 1999 to help celebrate the start of work on the Oswestry-based Midlands Centre for Spinal Injuries.
The centre was officially opened on October 29, 2001, and it was on October 29, 2011, exactly 10 years later, that Sir Jimmy died at this home in Leeds following a suspected bout of pneumonia.
In the intervening decade, The Oswestry-based Midlands Centre for Spinal Injuries has built up a worldwide reputation and has been celebrating the work of all those who raised money to replace the previous building after a £3.5million public appeal was launched in 1997.
That appeal was kicked off with a generous bequest of £650,000 from the estate of the late Mr W. Allman and was followed by money donated from across Britain but in particular from Shropshire and Mid Wales, together with charitable institutions such as the Lord Leverhulme Trust, Garfield Weston, Sir William Coxen Trust, PF Charitable, John Ellerman Foundation and the hospital's own League of Friends.
It was a cause that Jimmy Savile was quick to support, having been well known for his own fundraising work at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and so it was that the flamboyant star came to be in Oswestry on May 20, 1999 to lay the centre's first stone.
Professor Wagih El Masri, one of those to meet Sir Jimmy back in 1999, said: "We were saddened to hear of Sir Jimmy's passing. He has done a great deal for the awareness, fundraising and treatment of patients in many centres over his 84-year life span.
"Now we have a building that matches the care that is given to patients and one of which we are justifiably proud when we have people visiting us from across the world. We are extremely grateful for all the support we have received."
Prof El Masri said he felt Sir Jimmy would have been proud of the work that came after his visit, adding: "Visiting experts from all over the world have taken what they have learnt back home with them to help care for spinal injured patients in their own countries and we have helped set up centres across the world, from Scandinavia to India and China."